Leadership, balance and strategic opportunities.

COPYRIGHT 2009 Department of Defense - DefenseLink. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights or concerns about this content should be directed to Customer Service.

Thank you Sandy for your kind introduction. I'm honored that Secretary Donley has chosen to attend today. Sir, thank you for your tremendous leadership; it is an honor to be your deputy. Sandy had it right yesterday when he said that we have the ideal leadership team for these challenging times in you and the Chief. And thanks too for the presence of our Air Force senior leaders. I am enormously proud to be part of this team.

Mostly today, thank you to the Air Force Association--Sandy, Mike, and your entire team--for your great work in hosting this important conference. AFA is an incredible advocate not only for the Air Force mission, but more importantly, for the brave men and women who make up our Service. Thank you for all you do to promote the Air Force, our Airmen, and our mission. I'm grateful to be here with all of you today.

Let me first say that I'm well aware that I'm delivering a speech during the last session of a day full of great presentations, and I imagine some of you already hear your watches ticking loudly. So I'll be relatively brief.

Much of the talk this week is about the current budgetary challenges. And I'll beat that drum a bit myself. But I want to start on a sincere, positive note. This is also a time of great opportunity. Your Air Force leaders are dedicated not only to good stewardship of our finances, but also to ensuring that the Total Force we have 10 and 20 years from now remains the greatest air, space, and cyber force the world has ever known. This is a time for creativity and innovation and our Airmen have these qualities in spades. It's an important and exciting time to serve. That's the attitude I come to work with every day. I can assure you that am not unique in that regard inside the halls of the Air Staff!

My Role as Under Secretary

As the Air Force's Chief Management Officer am responsible for improving the overall processes, systems, and management of the Air Force. In one of my more "enjoyable" roles, I--along with the Vice Chief--am responsible for presenting our program objective memorandum, or POM, to the Secretary and Chief, and to defending that POM through the DoD budget process. And while I'll talk more about the budget in a moment, let me start with our most critical management asset--our people.

Managing Personnel

Many of you heard Secretary Donley and General Schwartz speak to the importance of our Airmen, our core Air Force missions, and our ability to continue to excel within a decreasing budget. Secretary Donley emphasized that we are approaching budget reductions with an eye toward strategy and balance--balance among all of the core functions the Air Force provides the Joint force and the Nation; balance among the components of the Total Force; and balance among force structure, modernization, and readiness. Both the Secretary and the Chief are adamant that, no matter what size force we are, we will be highly-capable and ready. Fulfilling their charge, even as a smaller force, means ensuring we continue to recruit and retain the highest quality Airmen. We will continue to invest in their education and training. And we will continue to focus on supporting their families. This is all key to our readiness as a force.

I had the opportunity to spend some time at the Air Force Academy--the "other" AFA--last week and I've also been able to visit with Airmen graduating from Basic Military Training. …

Related articles on HighBeam Research

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The following information was released by the U.S. Air Force: The Air Force secretary discussed the outlook for the Air Force's future during the Air Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium and Technology Exposition Feb. 18 here. In his keynote speech, framed upon the strategic…

USAF ACADEMY, Colo., May 25 -- The U. S. Air Force Academy issued the following press release: The secretary of the Air Force spoke at the commencement address for the Air Force Academy's Class of 2011 at Falcon Stadium May 25. Michael B. Donley congratulated the 1,021 graduates and challenged them…

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas, Oct. 25 -- The U. S. Air Force issued the following press release: In the wake of ongoing investigations into professional misconduct that occurred at basic military training, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley met with BMT leaders at Joint Base San…

The U.S. Air Force issued the following press release: In a joint Letter to Airmen, the acting secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force chief of staff present the 61st Air Force birthday message for all Airmen. "On Sept. 18, 1947, our nation established the United States Air Force, signifying…

WASHINGTON -- The following information was released by the office of Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger: Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) today released the following statement regarding the announcement that United States Air Force (USAF) Secretary Michael Donley will retire in June: "Secretary Donley…

At Cengage, privacy is important to us, as such we have a Global Privacy Program in order to comply with regulations that apply to us, our notices, and agreements with our customers.
In order to protect and use data in accordance with these regulations, our polices and notices, we collect the birth year of our users.
For additional questions or concerns please visit www.cengage.com/privacy or contact the Privacy Office, privacy@cengage.com.

Year of birth:

An error has occured, please try submitting again or contact Costumer Service at 1-800-860-9227